The painful transition

www.climatechangecapital.com

Three years ago, the Citigroup's investment research cell and the World Resources Institute's capital markets research team came out with a report, Investing in Solutions to Climate Change. The document was along predictable lines. Rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns and warmer temperatures will benefit a handful of large corporates, the report noted.

The people who run this site don't quite seem to believe so. The low carbon economy offers opportunities for all willing to innovate--that seems to be the mantra of www.climatechangecapital.com. Brave words. But a few inconvenient truths loom large. In the website's home turf, the UK, green investment is yet to take off. "There is still a perception that investing in climate change funds is somehow a high risk equity strategy," according to a recent report of the UK's financial advisory and wealth management firm, Holden and Partners.

The task of groups such as climatechangecapital has become even more arduous given that green investments have also caught up in the volatility of the international credit crisis. But make no mistake. Given regulatory support, they should recover well. Migration from traditional technologies to green ones could be hard for many entrepreneurs. For venture capitalists, the learning curve can be steep. Sites like www.climatechangecapital.com can certainly help.